Kalmadi’s close aide likely to contest on AAP ticket

New Delhi: After a strong showing in Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party is now eyeing the crucial Lok Sabha polls. Surprisingly, AAP’s list of party candidates includes Congress leader Suresh Kalmadi’s close aide and former IPS officer Uday Sahay.

The former IPS officer, who had worked with controversial Congress leader Suresh Kalmadi during Commonwealth Games (CWG) in 2010, had earlier termed the AAP as fascist and asked people to stay away from it. Sources close to AAP said that Uday Sahay is likely to contest against BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha on Patna Saheb constituency.

Meanwhile, it can easily be observed as to what priority is being given to Sahay in the party as it was senior party leader Gopal Rai who himself brought Sahay in the forefront to announce latter’s decision to join AAP.

It was in the year 2009 when Uday Sahay voluntarily retired from the Indian Police Service and went on to work in communication, media and public relations field.

Suresh Kalmadi had given a key role to Sahay, who served as Additional Director General (Communications) in the Organizing Committee of CWG. Later, Sahay was appointed as Information Advisor of the Committee. Currently, he is Chairman and Managing Director of SAUV Communications Pvt. ltd. Not only this, Sahay was also played key roles in Sheila Dikshit's core team.

It must be noted that in the past, Sahay openly opposed AAP. In December 2012, when Kejriwal began anti-corruption movement, Sahay termed his party as fascist and called the party men as ‘hidden wolves’. His post on Facebook page was available till Wednesday night.

Taking a defensive stance on his statement, Sahay said that he was actually pointing at the political party which was attempting to end the anti-corruption protest.

Commenting on the key role he played in Sheila Dikshit’s team, Sahay said that he has performed crucial roles in other state governments as well, adding that he owns a small start-up company and has not earned crores of money by working on projects assigned by the former Delhi government.

Responding to a question on his decision to retire from IPS, Sahay shared that he worked in communication department for a long time and he was being appointed as Inspector General of Goa Police. Owing to this, he decided to retire and join CWG Organizing Committee.